Ingrid Thulin
Swedish actress and Bergman collaborator known for intense roles.
Ingrid Lilian Thulin, a Swedish actress and director, is best known for her frequent collaborations with Ingmar Bergman. She frequently portrayed characters marked by anguish and desperation, winning praise from critics in Sweden and abroad. Her performance in *Brink of Life* (1958) earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and she took home the first-ever Guldbagge Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for *The Silence* (1963).
Born in Sollefteå, in northern Sweden’s Ångermanland region, Thulin was the daughter of Nanna Larsson and Adam Thulin, a fisherman. As a girl, she studied ballet, and in 1948 she was admitted to the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
Thulin worked regularly with Bergman over many years, appearing in films such as *Wild Strawberries* (1957), *The Magician* (1958, where she spent much of the film disguised as a boy), *Winter Light* (1962), *The Silence* (1963), *The Rite* (1969), and *Cries and Whispers* (1972). In 1968, Luchino Visconti cast her in his historical epic about Nazi Germany, *The Damned*. She later starred in a thematically similar film, *Salon Kitty* (1976), directed by Tinto Brass. Thulin received the David di Donatello Award in 1974. In 1980, she served as head of the jury at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival.
Her second marriage was to Harry Schein, founder of the Swedish Film Institute. They were married for more than 30 years, though they lived apart for much of that time before divorcing in 1989. Thulin bought an apartment in Paris in the early 1960s, and later a beach house in San Felice Circeo, Italy. In 1970, she settled in Sacrofano, Italy, where she lived for 34 years. Her memoir, *Någon jag kände* (*Somebody I Knew*), was published in 1992.
She returned to Sweden for medical treatment and died of cancer in Stockholm on 7 January 2004.
Since 2008, the municipality of Sollefteå—where Thulin is buried—has awarded an annual Ingrid Thulin Memorial Scholarship, valued at 20,000 SEK, to applicants pursuing the arts. The scholarship is sponsored by actress Harriet Andersson, a longtime personal friend of Thulin.
Quick Facts
- Birth Name
- Ingrid Lilian Thulin
- Birth Date
- 1926-01-27
- Birth Place
- Sollefteå, Sweden
- Death Date
- 2004-01-07
- Death Place
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Education
- Royal Dramatic Training Academy
- Occupation
- Actress · film director
- Years Active
- 1948-1991
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Thulin was born in Sollefteå, northern Sweden, the daughter of a fisherman. She took ballet lessons as a girl and was accepted by the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1948. She appeared in several Bergman films, including Wild Strawberries (1957), The Magician (1958, in which she spent much of the film dressed as a boy), Winter Light (1962), The Silence (1963), The Rite (1969), and Cries and Whispers (1972).
She shared the Best Actress award at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival for Brink of Life and received the inaugural Guldbagge Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Silence in 1964. In 1968, she was cast by Luchino Visconti in The Damned. She also starred in Salon Kitty (1976), directed by Tinto Brass.
Her second marriage was to Harry Schein
Reader's Guide
Ingrid Thulin's significance lies in her intense, often harrowing performances that defined a key era of Swedish cinema, particularly through her long collaboration with Ingmar Bergman. Her role in The Silence earned her the first Guldbagge Award for Best Actress, marking a milestone in Swedish film awards. Internationally, she won the Cannes Best Actress award for Brink of Life and was nominated for a BAFTA for Cries and Whispers. Her work with Luchino Visconti in The Damned brought her a National Society of Film Critics Award. Thulin also served as head of the jury at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival in 1980. Her legacy is honored by the Ingrid Thulin Memorial Scholarship, established by her hometown of Sollefteå in 2008, which supports artists and is sponsored by her friend Harriet Andersson.
Did You Know?
- Her second husband, Harry Schein, founded the Swedish Film Institute.
- The municipality of Sollefteå has given out an Ingrid Thulin Memorial Scholarship annually since 2008.
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